Step 3 - after a wave destroys part of your newly built sandcastle, start rebuilding.

Step 4 - repeat step 3 until: a) it gets dark; b) you run out of sand, or; c) you give up in total frustration, demolish the sandcastle yourself and go home.

I’ve got news for you. That’s life!

I’m the kind of guy who likes to get his ducks in a row. The problem is they keep getting out of line. My sandcastles keep getting partially washed out to sea. So I rebuild, and rebuild, and rebuild, and rebuild…

It’s only taken me fifty-four years to resign myself to the fact that life is a state of constant transition. In his book, Good To Great, Jim Collins described life in the twenty-first century as “Constant whitewater.” There are a million moving parts all happening at once. If you are one of those rare people who thrives on chaos then what I am describing will make you happier than a woodpecker in a lumberyard. But if you like things neat and orderly then, like me, you are going to have to make some adjustments.

The adjustment is the realization that everything about life on earth is temporary. I think God made it that way so we wouldn’t get too attached. Think about it. How many places have you lived over the years? How many places have you worked? How many cars have you owned? How many churches have you attended? How many friends have come and gone? How many family members have you said goodbye to? You get the point.

Nothing in this world stays the same. But Jesus does! “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). What a comfort it is to know that.

Also, remember what God said in Isaiah 43:19, “Behold, I will do a new thing.” Rather than resisting change, realize that the Christian life involves constant transition for God is always moving us onward and upward. God is always at work in our lives for good (Phil. 1:6). Rather than view change as an interruption, see it as an improvement.

As a Christian, life is one adventurous ride! So strap on your seatbelt and learn to hold on loosely to the things of this life. Set your gaze forward and say with Paul, “Reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13b-14).